Pray to your Father who is there in secret. Matthew 6:6 (TKNT)
Pray In Secret – Sermon on the Mount Series – Part 7
Go to PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3 | PART 4 | PART 5 | PART 6 | PART 7 | PART 8 | PART 9 | PART 10 | PART 11 | PART 12 | PART 13 | PART 14
“When you pray, you mustn’t be like the play-actors. They love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners so that people will notice them. I’m telling you the truth: they have received their reward in full. No: when you pray, go into your own room, shut the door, and pray to your Father who is there in secret. And your father, who sees in secret, will repay you. When you pray, don’t pile up a jumbled heap of words! That’s what the Gentiles do. They reckon that the more they say, the more likely they are to be heard. So don’t be like them. You see, your father knows what you need before you ask him.” Matthew 6:5-8 (N.T. Wright’s “The Kingdom New Testament Translation”)
PRACTICE: SECRETLY PRAY.
What we do when no one is watching tells us who we really are. The reality is when we give or pray to impress others we “receive our reward in full” and rob ourselves of the interiority and character God longs to form in us.
Prideful people give and pray to receive praise from others. Humble sinners, who know the joy of being forgiven, pray because God is worthy of all praise.
In baptism, we are justified in public, yet our ongoing sanctification often happens in secret as we seek him in private. So, draw near to God. And rejoice that even the desire to do so is God drawing near to you.
Where is your secret place of prayer? How might you gently develop a rhythm of prayer?
PRAYER: Lord, in private, make me a person of prayer. Rescue me from my many words that I might be still and know that you are God. For you know what I need, you. Amen.
Part 8 of Jarrod’s series, The Sermon on The Mount Series continues here »
Contributed and Written by: Jarrod McKenna
Facebook.com/jarrodandmates
Twitter: @jarrodmckenna
Instagram: @jarrodmckenna
You can watch the “Love Makes a Way Documentary,” by copying this link into your web browser: pktfuel.com/LMAW